Fort Pickens, FL 2/18 - 2/20/2014

On the road again Tuesday Feb. 18 to register at the Ranger Station for two nights. It was 61 overnight.

But first we visited with the other Roadtrekkers camping near.  In fact Jim was visiting with Phil when I came back from my shower.  Also met Jim's wife, Sharon.  She is making pine needle baskets.  They were originally from Michigan but have been sailing for the last 15 years.  Recently Roadtrek owners and now are touring on land.  We also visited with a young couple from Canada.  They are touring the U.S. for 6 months.

We toured the Fort.

 It required special techniques in building because of the sand.

The dry moat around the Fort.

 Room where gunpowder was stored.

Notice the notch out on the left.  Larger cannons needed more space to turn.  So they notched the walls.

On the night of June 6, 19899 a fire broke out in the gunpowder magazine.  Eventually it ignited 8,000 pounds of gunpowder.  The explosion took down the northwest corner of the Fort.

The opening created by the explosion.

 At the museum the question was posed, where does the white sand come from?

 Again we learned about the sea turtles.

One of every 1,000 sea turtles survives to adult.

Do you know what this is?

Shoot and duck gun would recoil after it was shot.

We enjoyed visiting with Jim around our fire pit.

Wednesday Feb.19 we registered for another night.  It was 62 overnight.  Before leaving home we thought we would go to Dauphin Island, AL.  We realized this was similar and stayed another night instead of going there. Phil cleaned and waxed the RV.  Jim and Sharon visited in the morning and again joined us around our fire pit in late afternoon. I defrosted the freezer. Doesn't take long. I took a walk to the beach. We visited with others from the Midwest. Time goes so fast.

On the road again Thursday Feb. 20 to the Naval Aviation Museum. It was 61 overnight. We toured the Hanger.

 Helicopter that Nixon rode when he left Washington D.C.

 Lunar landing model.

 Lunar rover.

Coast Guard helicopter.

 Navy's last flying boat.

 Unmanned Combat Air System

 On October 31, 1956 this was the first plane to land on the South Pole.

At 10 am we took the Trolley Ride to see what planes they are restoring.  this is the hanger where they work on them.

 Parts of a plane stored outside.

What an interesting place to visit.

We stayed overnight at Escapee's Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, AL. While I was doing the laundry I had a interesting visit with one of the guys who stays here 6 months out of the year.  He calls this the friendliest Escapees' Park.